The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has long tracked the height and weight of children and ranked them in accordance to where they are at compared to other babies at that age. Six months ago, the AAP added a new thing to track so parents would know where there children were at: Cuteness.
“A lot of parents think they have cute babies,” says Dr. Bob Lilly, President of the AAP. “But the fact is, not everyone has the cutest baby in the world. We think it is important that people know where their kid stands. You never hear people that have small babies bragging about how big they are. It’s because they know exactly where there kid is at for height and weight. Hopefully, our new ranking will end the ‘isn’t my baby the cutest’ conversations.”

The new ranking method is not quite as scientific as gauging height and weight, but still has scientific merit says Dr. Lilly. “The AAP ranked hundreds of babies at several stages in life as to how cute they were. Then, we simply created cards that show how cute a baby would have to be to be in those areas. So, your pediatrician looks at your baby and makes their best determination as to which group of like babies yours would belong to, and that is your percentage. Nurses sometimes will help with this as well.”

Last week, Stapleton had its first baby in the 99th percentile of cuteness, the highest possible percentile. Several Stapleton babies have been in the 80-90th percentile range, but none eclipsed 95 until baby Kayla (21 months). “It was an honor to have a 99th percentile in our office,” said Stapleton Pediatrics doctor Dr. Bryan May. “It was the first one we have seen, and it will be very interesting to see how she develops over time. Will she stay in the 99th percentile? Does having a lot of cuteness affect social development? We don’t know right now and these are some of the things we will be studying with her.”

Parents Gabe and Jolene McCarville are proud, but are trying to keep things in perspective. “It is great, but it doesn’t mean a lot now,” says Gabe. “It doesn’t guarantee that she will be able to run fast, and we are much more interested in that. Why don’t they have that test yet? I want to know how fast she is compared to other 21 month olds.”

There are no immediate plans by the AAP to add “athletic ability” as a ranked component, so until that happens, the McCarvilles will just have to be proud of their very, very cute daughter.